What Does 2 Chronicles 14:14 Mean?
And they struck all the cities around Gerar, for the dread of the LORD came upon them, and they spoiled all the cities, for there was very much spoil in them.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exceeding much spoil in them.THE KEY
The LORD’s awe falls on the people before the cities are struck, and the verse holds that dread beside the violence and plunder that follow.
THE MEANING
The verse presents the LORD’s awe as a dread that comes upon whole cities and accompanies a violent reversal of power. The victors strike and strip those cities; the passage names what they take as abundant spoil.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that fear is only an inward feeling: here it comes upon whole cities and precedes their defeat.
THE ROOT
פַּחַד
pachad
GROWS FROM
פחד
p-ḥ-d
To dread or tremble.
The word here is pachad (פַּחַד, dread), a force pictured as coming upon the cities. The LORD’s awe is not merely an inward attitude in this verse; it overtakes a people before the attack.
ALSO GROWS
pachad: To dread, fear, or tremble.
פָּחַד
The verbal branch makes dread something that shakes a person, illuminating how fear can come upon a whole people.
miphchad: Dread or terror.
מִפְחָד
This related noun preserves the sense of fear as an overwhelming force, matching the verse’s image of dread upon the cities.
וַיָּבֹזּוּ
wayyavozzu
GROWS FROM
בזז
b-z-z
To plunder or seize as spoil.
The verb “spoiled” and the following noun “spoil” grow from the same root. Hebrew ties the act of taking to what is taken: the cities are plundered because abundant plunder is in them.
ALSO GROWS
bazaz: To plunder or seize as spoil.
בָּזַז
This is the root behind the victors’ action in the verse.
baz: Booty or spoil.
בַּז
This noun names what is seized, echoing the root of the verb and binding action to its result.
THE PATTERN
Divine dread can seize an entire community and change its ability to act.
And they pulled up their stakes, and the shattering of God was upon the cities all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.Terror and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of your arm they shall be as still as a stone, until your people cross over, O LORD, until this people you have bought cross over.And great fear came upon the whole assembly, and upon all who heard these things.THE THREAD
This day I begin to set your dread and your fear upon the face of the peoples under all the heavens, who will hear of you, and will tremble, and writhe because of you.“Dread” here is pachad (פַּחַד), the same root used for the fear that comes upon the cities in 2 Chronicles. In both verses, dread is placed upon a people and overtakes them before the encounter unfolds.
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